U.S. coal miners discouraged by black lung assembly with McConnell

A radiological technician appears on the chest x-ray of a retired coal miner who has sophisticated black lung illness, in St. Charles, Virginia, U.S., Could 18, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A gaggle of coal miners bothered with black lung illness met with Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell on Tuesday as a part of an effort to persuade lawmakers to revive a better excise tax on coal firms to assist fund their medical care, however a number of mentioned the assembly left them discouraged.

McConnell, the Republican chief who represents Kentucky – one of many states that has seen a rebound within the progressive respiratory sickness – advised them their advantages can be secure however gave no assurances in regards to the excise tax and left with out answering questions or providing particulars, a number of of the miners who attended the assembly mentioned.

“We rode up right here for 10 hours by bus to get some solutions from him as a result of he represents our state,” mentioned George Massey, a miner from Harlan County, Kentucky who spent twenty years within the mines and is on incapacity. “For him to come back in for simply two minutes was a low-down disgrace.”

David Mullins, who labored in coal mines for 34 years and is presently battling a complicated stage of black lung illness, mentioned he was additionally annoyed. “It’s time to behave,” he mentioned, whereas sporting a “Black Lung Kills” T-shirt and utilizing an oxygen tank.

Coal firms had been required to pay a $1.10 per ton tax on underground coal to finance the federal Black Lung Incapacity Belief Fund, which helps disabled miners whose employers go bankrupt and may now not pay out medical advantages. However the quantity reverted to the 1977 stage of 55 cents this yr after Congress declined to take motion to take care of the speed.

The coal trade had lobbied exhausting to permit the tax to drop as scheduled, regardless of a authorities report saying the fund was in dire monetary straits, arguing the businesses had been already going through financial ache and that advantages for bothered miners wouldn’t be affected.

McConnell spokeswoman Stephanie Penn mentioned the senator “was glad to welcome his constituents to the Capitol” however didn’t touch upon miners’ complaints. She mentioned he’s “working carefully with events relating to future funding for this system and can proceed to make sure these vital advantages are maintained.”

Massey and Mullins had been amongst 120 miners and their households who traveled to Washington to name on Congress to revive the upper tax. The group additionally met with Democratic senators Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Democratic Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott – all of whom have supported totally different payments that might shield and strengthen their black lung advantages.

The Authorities Accountability Workplace has mentioned with out an extension of earlier tax ranges the fund’s debt will rise from $5 billion to $15 billion by 2050 – a burden that might possible must be met by U.S. taxpayers as an alternative of coal firms. Coal firm bankruptcies and a resurgence of the illness are accelerating the danger of insolvency for the fund, in accordance with the accountability workplace.